Deep Autumn (2003; second edition 2013)

The time between the waning of the Hunter’s Moon and All Hallows’ Eve is what the old-timers call Deep Autumn, when the clocks will be turned back and the curtains drawn against unwanted eyes.It is a period of reminiscences and backward glances. It is the season of sleepless nights when accumulated sins flicker in the mind’s eye like leave dancing in the bitter wind. Presented here are fifteen stories of the fall—and the lies and regrets that accompany the plummet.

Description

Revised Second Edition!

In Deep Autumn, a young girl suffers brain damage after falling from a tree and is venerated as a saint with healing abilities by her neighbors; a Ouija board session draws blood, while a survivor of childhood trauma tries not to float; the block where sixty-four souls were consumed in eight houses becomes consecrated ground; a couple are trapped in a motel room by the ghosts of what might have been and what will never be; a writer recovering from addiction is seduced by the legend of the Lord’s Finger; and a young girl finds the seeds of escape in the drawings dropped from a second story window by a boy forever locked away.

These tales and more explore the melancholia and occasional madness that comes when the mornings are as dark as the nights and the crunch of dead leaves underfoot serve as a reminder of the reckoning of the season.

This is the time of the dares. This is a time to let go. This is Deep Autumn.

5 reviews for Deep Autumn (2003; second edition 2013)

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Rated 4 out of 5

Katie Marlowe–March 22, 2013

From Amazon: “I’m tough on modern fiction, it’s a genre that tends to disappoint me, but here is a great writer. This collection of short stories is dark and uncomfortably intimate, but good. Very good. The writing can be a bit gluttonous so it leaves you heavy and full and almost unbearably satisfied. They are stories you’ll read, and relate to and then won’t get out of your head.”

Rated 5 out of 5

Kathie Cronk–March 22, 2013

From Amazon: “What an incredible book! This author takes you on a journey, sometimes to places you may not want to go, but once you are there you become intrigued by the characters and their experiences. The stories have humor, compassion, heartache, fear and love. I recommend, on one of these fine autumn evenings, to curl up on the couch with a cup of your favorite tea and go ‘deep’ into this great book.”

I was expecting your book to be good. I was expecting to enjoy it. I was not expecting it to have much impact on my moods or thoughts. But it did. Fucking Lord’s Finger… incredible. Billy, We Gotta Get Outta Here=Charles Bukowski plus a modest helping of depth. The book made me feel things…things I would not have felt if I had not read it. Please look past the embarassing cheesiness of “made me feel things” and realize that I really had no other way of saying it. Oh, and it made me feel cool that I caught the references to The Birthmark in Lord’s Finger. That’s right, I’m fucking cool. I’m in the club. I’m looking forward to the next book.

Rated 3 out of 5

Stephanie–July 7, 2017

From GoodReads: I’m not really sure what to say about this one…..it’s a collection of short stories that is weird, creepy, depressing, and thought provoking all at once. I couldn’t figure out if the author was a genius or completely bonkers – maybe a bit of both. Not sure if I recommend this, but at least with it being a collection, you don’t really have to commit to much if you do decide to pick it up.